Project: Androkind
by Chiri-tan
Summary: In a universe where androkind battles are one of the most award-winning industry, sponsor Akashi Seijuurou seeks out the best Light series' creator: Professor Kuroko Tetsuya. AkaKuro; Kuroko is parental figure for Ogi, Ao, and Kaga.
1. Chapter 1

**Project: Androkind**

_When Professor Kuroko Tetsuya first announced his own specially-made androkind the Light series, I swore there were some companies who assassinate other recruiters to get him all to themselves. He turned all of them down, though._

_-Monthly Androwonders-_

* * *

Used Terminology:

Teikou - The country where this story takes place. It has six major cities. Teikou Capital, Rakuzan, Touou, Kaijou, Shuutoku,and Yousen.

Androkind - A humanoid robot complete with an artificial epidermis (artif-epi). It is considered the most perfect form of computer. Each one has specific programming like maid androkind and so on. Battler Androkinds are not mass produced and are unique to their creators. They have a self-learning program so as to increase battle experience automatically. Professors had the tick of creating 'personality' for their creation to attract sponsors.

Sponsor - Humans who sponsored an androkind in their battles in aspects such as spare parts, software, maintenance, and repairs. If the androkind won the tournament, the price money goes to their sponsor. Successful companies tend to be sponsors.

* * *

_Error._

_It was error. Again. Another error. He didn't understand why he kept running into errors. He had done everything he could and his experiment was correct in theory. The blueprints he had made was right, then why... why won't it...?_

_"Tetsu-kun," A worried voice called, earning his attention fully. "Tetsu-kun, you haven't slept in four days. I'm worried. You can continue tomorrow." He shook his head lightly. "Thank you, Momoi-san," he whispered tiredly, his hands still tinkering on the humanoid contraption before him. "But I am still okay. I can go on for a few hours more and I promise I will sleep today. Please don't wor-" He wobbled slightly, the lack of sleep attacking his entire body. He really needed to recharge._

_"I'll work on him." The pink-haired girl spoke as she tied her long hair into a high ponytail and took out a pair of red-rimmed glasses from her lab coat. "Tetsu-kun, just rest, okay? I'll do the motherboard and cover him with the artif-epi, okay? Please..." _

_"I'll test him..." He whispered. "Please, Momoi-san, I want to see him up."_

_There was a silence. How many years had he said that, he wondered? It must've been more than ten years. Since he started on working to that almost-perfect androkind, since he saw the first blueprint ever published and created his own design, since the days of robotic club in middle school, since the days of robotic clubs in high school, since he dropped out of college to focus all his time on his creation. Chihiro-niisan had told him to give up on his childish dream, but he kept on going._

_All so he would wake up one day._

_Momoi Satsuki-san, so bright and clever and beautiful and perfect, sighed at him. Of course she would. She had stayed beside him in all those years, after all._

_"Okay, Tetsu-kun, just... sit there, okay? Sit there and rest your eyes for a few minutes. I'll work on his cores and programs for a bit. I'm borrowing the Shadow Computer, okay?" The pink-haired professor got up from her seat and went to the huge computer, the one that was connected to the still androkind. The tealheaded professor sighed and touched the still silvery face of the androkind._

_"I'm going to go for a bit, okay? I'll see you later." And he kissed the cold metal surface._

_Suddenly, gears started to crackle and engines started to whirr. He could hear the clanking noise of limbs being moved and the professor's eyes widened, along with his mouth. Wh-wha...?_

_"Tetsu-kun! I tried upgrading the core into i920! Did it work?!" Momoi-san's voice was heard from the inner lab, but he ignored her- still in sheer awe as the androkind sat up on the metallic operating table and stared right at him._

_Those glass eyes he bought didn't look like glass anymore. And it certainly looked creepy since he wasn't covered with an artif-epi yet. But all the professor felt was confusion and excitement._

_"I-Identification...?" He stuttered, sounding unsure even to his own ears. But the androkind gave a barely seen nod and robotically voiced the identification the professor had inputted to his program all those years ago... "Light Series, serial number Zero-One, specification: Speed Learning type."_

_The teal-haired professor fell to his knees, tears leaking without his consent as he covered his gaping mouth with his hands. "Tetsu-kun, did it- oh my god...!" Momoi-san dropped her clipboard, her eyes silently examining the androkind with a confused yet surprised expression. _

_"Oh... my... Ku- that's- is that-" She couldn't speak, but seeing him already speechless, she took a deep breath and approached the newly awakened androkind with shaky steps. "D-do you know... what- who we are...?"_

_His auburn-colored glass eyes glazed, unfocused as more engines whirred. And then he nodded. "Professor Momoi Satsuki, co-creator and laboratory assistant of Professor Kuroko Tetsuya, creator of Serial Number Zero-One." And she too, broke down to tears. The tealheaded professor inched closer to the silent androkind and pulled him into a hug._

_"Nice to meet you..." The teal-haired professor whispered shakily. "Nice to meet you, nice to meet you, nice to meet you...!" Momoi-san sobbed happily to her hands. "Oh my god, Shige-chan... oh my god..."_

_"Nice to meet you, Ogiwara-kun, my name is Kuroko Tetsuya..." he sobbed to the metallic shoulder, his tears trickling down the androkind's surface with ease. "I am your creator." And he tightened the hug, enough to suck air out of normal humans._

_The androkind was silent, not understanding anything that occurred to him just after his awakening. At this time, the first androkind of the Light Series knew nothing, not even his own name. But there was one thing his self-learning program caught._

_It was warm. _

_He didn't know, or understand why, but it was warm._

* * *

As soon as Akashi Seijuurou entered the coliseum and saw the list of participants, he immediately backed down from entering any of his own androkinds from battle and he was honestly baffled at the stupidity of sponsors who still _hoped _to win a battle in this coliseum what _that _name was so proudly displayed as entry number one.

_Light Series_

_Serial Number Zero-One_

_Creator: Professor Kuroko Tetsuya_

_Name: Ogiwara Shigehiro_

_Sponsor: Professor Kuroko Tetsuya_

The rest of them didn't interest Akashi, not even one of Momoi Satsuki's newest model; Sakurai Ryou of Crowned Tyrants Series, who was recently contracted by Touou Corproration. Maybe Imayoshi Shouichi was testing the waters with the new androkind, seeing how it measured against the infamous Light Series.

"We should go home already," Mayuzumi said a few seconds after he saw Ogiwara Shigehiro's name and specs being shown on the big screen. "We're not entering, and nothing else seemed to be taking your interest. I don't want to waste time when I could be entering another coliseum and see another battle that actually brings us profit."

Akashi shook his head, slightly unnerved by Mayuzumi's comment of watching this match being useless.

"You seem to lack understanding of my reason for being here, Mayuzumi." He said as he took the front row VIP seat available only to the richest sponsors. "Serial Number Zero-One is not a frequent battler like Number Zero-Two or Zero-Three of Lights. We can do well to observe its capabilities."

To experts of androkind world, it was no secret that the entire competition was thoroughly _dominated_ by Professor Kuroko Tetsuya's three androkinds of Light Series.

Zero-Two Aomine Daiki was practically the King of all Coliseum, with the infamous motto of 'the only one who can beat me is me' practically cheered by everyone who came to watch his matches.

Zero-Three Kagami Taiga was the hottest topic around, he was a fairly new model who was still battling in newer Coliseums with the other inexperienced androkinds, as per the rules Professor Kuroko seemed to laid out to all of his creation after the dismal with Aomine. And of course, he had defeated each and every androkind like his brother had and people had said it was only a matter of time until Kagami battled face to face with Aomine without actually getting his main frame melted off. And that would probably the most expensive matches of all time.

Zero-One Ogiwara Shigehiro was the oddball of the family. The very first androkind of Light Series and seemed to prefer spending his time with his Professor or doing his own researches than going on battles like his brothers. Ogiwara had once registered on the same coliseum with Aomine, which of course, invited a lot of mass and media and the tickets to that coliseum raised dramatically. It ended up with Ogiwara forfeiting the match, though, claiming that he couldn't possibly try to hurt his brother. Aomine had been so upset he practically destroyed the other androkind he fought as a replacement.

"If you want to look for a new Light to sponsor, shouldn't you go to Kagami Taiga? He hadn't cleared the lower coliseums yet so he didn't have any sponsor as of now."

"Fool, I don't wish to sponsor any of the three existent Lights." Akashi said as a maid-type androkind handed him a cup of tea. "I want Professor Kuroko to create a new Light specifically for Akashi Corp. to sponsor."

"And how exactly are you going to do this?"

"By seducing him."

Mayuzumi then stared at him like he had just grown a second head before bursting into a quiet, yet horridly amused, chuckle. It took him a couple of minutes to actually calm down before he had his gaze on the match, which was quickly escalating into Ogiwara's third consecutive victory without scratching a part. "Kuroko Tetsuya doesn't love anyone." Mayuzumi said as he pulled out his kindle, no doubt off to read some light novels of his.

"He doesn't even love Momoi-san, who took care of his daily human needs every month of his life. Kuroko Tetsuya loves nobody but his sons, who all fiercely loved him back."

"Who all happened to be inorganic beings incapable of feeling anything outside of their program. He's never exposed to human touches before and I am absolutely sure that he will fall for me if I play my cards right."

"Aomine will kill you on the spot."

"Eikichi will defend me. I am his master, _you _created him for me."

The two highest ranking men of Akashi corp. stared at each other with unsaid intensity. But eventually, Mayuzumi sighed, deciding that quarrelling with Akashi really didn't worth his time. His gray eyes returned to his kindle, briefly staring at the bodacious bodied girl in shrine maiden outfit. "Do as you like, Akashi. Let me warn you though, he never opened up to anyone and I don't think he ever will. I've tried a thousand time to reach out, so I won't upset our mother. But Tetsuya is…" He shook his head.

"He is the happiest when he is with his machines, and I honestly don't want to upset the balance he finally had."

Ah, how sweet. Mayuzumi was always somewhat attached to his estranged brother. He even changed his last name to let Kuroko Tetsuya be the sole bearer of said name. Strange siblings…

"How nice of you, Mayuzumi." _Shame that I don't care about what you want, shame that I care about my company first. _Akashi stood up as he watched Ogiwara winning his battle and made his way down to the waiting room of the coliseum.

* * *

"Ogiwara Shigehiro, yes? I have been meaning to speak with you for quite a long time." The orange-haired androkind didn't seem to acknowledge the fact that he was already in the room. He sat on the corner of the room, ignoring the other finalists as he stared at the ceiling. Akashi was standing in front of him, but the Light series hadn't responded with anything whatsoever.

Akashi cleared his throat, and the androkind blinked a couple of times, as if waking up from a daydream. "Oh, sorry, sir. I just got a call from my father." Ogiwara formed a grin easily on his lips as he stood up and dusted himself.

"Your father is Kuroko Tetsuya, yes?" He asked, wasting no time to beat around the bush. "Yep, Professor Kuroko Tetsuya! If you wanna sponsor, I can assure you that I really have no intention to be sponsored at all. If you want, you should ask Zero-Three, I-I mean Kagami. He didn't have any sponsor yet."

"Oh no, I did not wish to sponsor you at all." Akashi replied smoothly as he handed Ogiwara his business card, the androkind glanced at it ones and recorded it in his memory. "Akashi corp., eh? Their andros are amazing! I particularly like the one from the Crownless Generals series, Null-Four Hayama Kotarou, wasn't it?" He chuckled good naturedly.

"I wish to meet your… father to discuss some future arrangements." He said simply. Ogiwara seemed to contemplate his choices for a second before he asked Akashi to bring out any of his gadgets. "I think he really _needs_ to have some human contact aside from Momoi-chan. And the internet says you're a perfect gentleman." He replied distractedly, his eyes started to zoom out of the world and into his built-in internet software. "I'll tell you where to find my dad, but if I receive any kinds of threat from the Shadow Computer, I will transmit everything to my brothers before I kill you myself." He smiled as he projected hologram from his eyes, picked something up from the data and tossed them to Akashi's phone.

"Have fun and good luck, Akashi Seijuurou-san. I hope you'll find my dad as an awesome company!" And then he left him alone, returning to the battlefield with the other finalists.

An email with a map's coordinate arrived in Akashi's cell phone, he saved the sender 'L-S 01 Ogiwara Shigehiro' and smiled as he placed the coordinate on the Google maps.

It pinpointed him into a house located precisely between Touou City and Seirin Town, Akashi smirked.

Time to meet the most elusive professor of the century.

* * *

_There will be a onesided MomoKuro in this. Momoi is romantically in love with Kuroko though he doesn't reciprocate her feelings. But Kuroko does love Momoi in a familial way. _

_So, um, review will be extremely nice...?_


	2. Chapter 2

**Project: Androkind**

_We might really have to believe that the only one who can beat Aomine is Aomine himself!_

_-Monthly Androwonders-_

* * *

"DOWN!"

The spectator's cheers were loud as the entire Touou coliseum ran rampart with awed screaming. Ogiwara Shigehiro watched as he hid his face with a hood and watched from the highest, and less-crowded place of the coliseum.

His tournament was over, and as expected, he had won quite a few from it. Of course, some of the money went to his own bank for his own travel costs. But he'd filled some of Kuroko's account with his money, ensuring that his beloved professor would always have money for whenever Momoi-san came to buy his basic human needs.

"The winner is Sakurai Ryou of Crowned Tyrant series!"

The brown-haired androkind shot his arm upright, earning more scream from the crowd. Ogiwara watched as the entire coliseum showered him with love and pride. Crowned Tyrant series _were _the pride and joy of Touou City, after all.

Ogiwara tuned out of his surroundings to enter the Touou Coliseum's Official Chatroom, trying to find out what people said about this victory.

_User 4132: Sakurai's amazing!_

_User 2235: There's a reason why he's one of the Crowned Tyrants yo_

_User 4441: Crowned Tyrants are probably the best now! As expected of Imayoshi!_

_User 3354: Even the weak-looking Sakurai wins this block! I can't wait until we see Wakamatsu in B-block!_

_User 2227: I think you guys are forgetting something..._

_User 4155: What?_

_User 2227: Aomine's in B-block_

_User 4441: HAHAHAHA OMG AWESOME_

_User 3354: Poor Wakamatsu, he's gonna get beat in his own coliseum_

_User 4132: Poor dear~_

_User 4441: THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN BEAT AOMINE IS AOMINE_

_User 4155: Are you Aomine fan 4441? _

_User 4441: Well duh. He's great_

And Ogiwara tuned out of the chat room, shifting his attention back to the reality. And Wakamatsu Kousuke of Crowned Tyrants series had entered the coliseum, waiting for his opponent to come and face him.

The moment the dark-skinned opponent entered the coliseum, the spectators exploded with cheers and shouts. Female sponsors shout to get his attention, while the civilians lit up to be able to see the Dark King of All Androkind Battles. Ogiwara clenched his hood tighter, worried that somehow, his brother might be able to spot him from so far away.

But Aomine didn't bat an eyelash as he entered the field. Ogiwara zoomed in his vision to his younger brother, who looked like he couldn't be bothered with this. Aomine must have thought that Wakamatsu didn't worth his time.

"Today's the day, Aomine!" Wakamatsu screamed, defeating the crowd with his built-in connection with the coliseum's speakers. Ogiwara flinched. Jeez, so loud. "Today's the day I'm going to defeat you!" The crowd went deathly silent, as if waiting for Aomine's response.

The dark-skinned androkind leaned on his left feet, yawned, and scratch the back of neck- the standard response of a bored Light Series. "Jeez, so loud." He drawled lazily. "Besides, there's not going to be a day you're gonna defeat me." He went to his natural charging stance and Ogiwara could practically hear his core whirring from the Shadow Computer that connected all three of them. "Because-"

"The only one who can beat you... is you." Ogiwara whispered sadly as Aomine used his speed-battle program instead of accessing his abilities one by one. Aomine was bored, and there wasn't anybody strong enough to defeat him.

Not even him, or Zero-Three, or even all of Momoi-chan's creations.

And this was starting to get bad, really bad.

* * *

Akashi had found the little quaint house just on the border between Seirin and Touou. It was... ordinary, especially for a professor whose androkinds dominated the entire androkind industries. It had two stories, a lawn, and just a little fence Akashi could really break through if he wanted to.

But somehow, Akashi could see the little nanobots surrounding the vicinity, probably to veil this house from unwanted intruders. It rather confused Akashi as to why he could still this house, though, but he walked towards the little building anyways.

Akashi went over the fence with ease and proceeded to enter the unlocked door.

Those nanobots must be the strongest of their type if the owner of this house didn't even bother to lock his own door.

As soon as Akashi stepped into the house, he could hear the whirring sounds Mayuzumi's laboratory would often made. But unlike Mayuzumi's clunky-noised lab, this lab sounded like an orchestra. Thousands of gears clanking with one another as they made this laboratory alive. And of course, there was a man who sat with his headphones and goggles on in the middle of the room, tinkering with what seemed to be a dog-like contraption.

"Back so soon, Ogiwara-kun?" His voice rang, stopping the orchestra of gears and machineries as their conductor broke their equilibrium. But with a wave of his hand, the gears resumed their previous activities. "Do you need maintenance? I'm working on Nigou, but if you want maintenance I can stop now." This man didn't even look up from his work.

"Unfortunately, I am not Ogiwara Shigehiro." Akashi spoke, his voice bringing silence to the orchestra once more. But unlike its previous calming pause, the gears (which all belonged to some kind of contraption and another) started to whir dangerously. _'Stranger alert... stranger alert..." _The world was beeping around him as hundreds of clockwork dolls and even maid-type mass-produced androkind all closed in to him, all of them muttering the word stranger as it was a curse.

The professor did not look up from the dog he was making, as little clockwork dolls made their way to him, all cackling and whirring and muttering 'stranger alert'. The computer which controlled all of them beeped dangerously. _'Voice not recognized. Voice not recognized.' _

Was this the true security measure? If it was, then Professor Kuroko Tetsuya must be the real deal. Because even the maniac Mayuzumi didn't have this many clockwork dolls and contraptions to move and intimidate him.

He was already moving his hand to push the alert button which will bring his fastest androkind to his side to protect him, but a mechanical-sounding bark stopped all the creepy dolls from reaching him.

The professor stood up, his lab coat rather dirty from spending his time sitting on the floor and he held up a dog on his chest. He took off his headphone and stared right to Akashi's eyes with his goggled azure-colored eyes.

_'Stranger alert. Protect Father. Stranger alert. Stranger alert. Protect Father. Stranger alert.'_

"Children," the entire room fell deathly silent without even a single gear spinning on its axis. "I don't think he comes here to harm me. Please resume your activities. Shadow, if you will." The computer beeped thrice before the dolls all went back to their previous places and resumed their equilibrium of endless clanking noise. The professor walked towards him in complete curiosity.

When he was only a meter away from Akashi, the professor tapped his goggles twice before sighing to himself.

"You managed to find this place from the coordinates Ogiwara-kun gave you, yes?" He asked as he let down the incomplete dog robot and walked over to the only tea-table in the room. "Indeed. I saw him in Touou coliseum and I asked him if I could meet you. He told me it's fine and gave your address."

"By personally inputting part of his data to your phone so it would be recognized as his data. That's why Shadow thinks it was him entering my facility just earlier." The professor sat down on one of the seats surrounding the little tea-table. "Sit down please. We organic human beings could not stand on our feet for long." Organic human beings? Akashi Seijuurou had _never _been addressed that way by any professor (no matter how crazy) he met.

But he sat down anyway, and a maid-type androkind brought them tea almost as soon as he sat down.

"Thank you, Hotaru-san." The professor smiled at his creation. Akashi thanked him for the tea and let his gaze travelled the room. "Do they have names?" He asked, earning a look of curiosity from the still-goggled professor. "Yes, they do. All of them." He smiled affectionately at all of the creations around the room.

Silence befell the two men as they calmly drank their tea. The professor would sometimes zone out to watch something interesting within his goggle, and Akashi spent his time thinking of the best way to get to know this man before him.

And eventually, he came to a start.

"My name is Akashi Seijuurou." A name is always a good place to start. "I am the current CEO of Akashi corp. of Rakuzan."

"Nothing the internet didn't tell me. Your Crownless Generals series were magnificent. Null-Two Mibuchi Reo especially so. Tell my brother that I applaud his brilliancy, maybe he can come over for teas." There was a serene smile he had when he talked about Crownless Generals, but there wasn't any warmth when he talked about his brother. How... _intriguing_.

"Zero-One also expresses his interest of my Null-Four. Maybe we should hold a spec-coverage of our series." And maybe he could see the full-detailed specifications of the Legendary Light Series in exchange of his strongest Crownless Generals. He was sure that Mayuzumi wouldn't mind.

"Please don't refer to my children by their serial number. My son has a name and it is Ogiwara Shigehiro." Oh, Akashi should really expected that one. After all, this man referred to his clockwork dolls and creations as 'children', and even called a nameless mass-produced maid type with her name.

Mayuzumi regarded his creations as nothing more than what they are: creations. But this man would be a little different.

"My apologies, Professor." He spoke as he sipped a little of his tea. "Accepted. What brings you here to my home, Akashi-san?"

He was blunt and straightforward then. This made things just a tad bit easier.

"I wish to sponsor one of your upcoming Light Series. Most preferably if it was the immediate number Zero-Four."

The professor fell silent. He took off his goggles and put them on the table. His azure-colored eyes flickered with something unidentifiable as he stared right at Akashi's red and golden irises. "Sponsors are a matter out of my hands, Akashi-san." He sighed quietly. "I let my sons choose their sponsors. And if you have their assessment over the matter, I will gladly sign the required documents for transferring the sponsorship fee." Nothing Akashi didn't know.

"And I currently have no intention to... create another Light series..."

Not after what happened with Aomine, he presumed. Even when Akashi didn't know the deep, personal matter of the Light Scramble between Zero-Two and Zero-Three months ago, he knew that it affected the professor so deeply that he didn't want to create another Light. Something he could change if he knew how to play his cards right.

The professor seemed to understand that Akashi's silence meant he knew the exact reason why number Zero-Four will not be produced as fast as its brothers were- if it was ever going to be created. He stood up and took his goggles with him, Akashi following him suit. "There are things I wish to speak to you about, Professor."

"There isn't any need. Please go away, you are scaring my children."

Akashi scoffed and grabbed the professor's deathly pale wrist in a firm, yet gentle hold. "Do I scare your children, or do I scare _you_?" The professor's pale face lit up with shades of red before he brushed Akashi's hand away.

There was a thick silence between the two men. Calm and quiet for Akashi, and infuriatingly annoying for the tealheaded professor.

"I am not used to having organic life forms touching and speaking to me without my consent. So yes, you scare me. If you understand that, can you please leave?" He spoke calmly and politely, but he could hear the sound of barely-repressed annoyance leaking from his inquiry. Akashi eventually smirked. _I got hold of one of his weaknesses already. Everything is right on schedule._

"Of course. I shall be coming back tomorrow for another tea, though. It's best to stay my welcome." The professor looked annoyed, but said nothing of Akashi's statement.

In a way, Ogiwara had welcomed him to his home, even urging him to make friends with the professor- something the professor would know the moment he saw Ogiwara's log. And Akashi knew that the professor had caught this little fact as well.

"I shall be waiting with eagerness then," his voice sounded so pleasant and polite and yet Akashi could still feel the thin blades of sarcasm shooting from his words. How interesting.

As Akashi left the still-whirring laboratory, he could hear the still-annoyed voice of Professor Kuroko Tetsuya ordering 'Shadow' to save Akashi's voice in its recognition system.

He guessed that their meetings would happen for a long time to come, and Akashi couldn't agree more with him.

* * *

[Secret File, property of Professor Momoi Satsuki. **DO NOT TOUCH**]

**Professor Kuroko Tetsuya**

Full Name: Kuroko Tetsuya

Nickname: Kuroko, Tetsu-kun, Tetsu (used by Ogiwara and Kagami, herself, and Aomine respectively)

Age: 24

Place, Date of Birth: Teikou Capital, January 31st

Occupation: Creator (currently not in contract with any sort of firm)

Creations: 1000 simple clockwork dolls, 6 maid-type androkind, and 3 battler androkind (Light Series).

Trivia:

- The prodigious young professor of androkind world.

- Hasn't had close human contact aside from myself.

- Has trouble assimilating himself with other humans since he has low-presence.

- Has been working on Shige-chan since middle school

- I love him so much


	3. Chapter 3

**Project: Androkind**

_Kagami is definitely a miraculous new star! We'll see if he can measure up to his brother the Dark King!_

_-Monthly Androwonders-_

* * *

For spectators of Rakuzan Coliseum, snow was just another thing to be expected as one of the extraordinary beauty that blessed many fights. It could serve as a handicap, or serve as a great utility. And for the pride and joy of Rakuzan City the Crownless Generals series, it was definitely one of the greatest utilities they could have out there in the field. Especially so for Null-Four, Hayama Kotarou.

His opponent was a rather nameless androkind from Oonita corp., a newcomer testing the waters. And now, he would show just what it means to take on one of the dominators of androkind industry.

"Okay, I gonna go three fingers now!" His engines whirred as it recognized his commanding voice. Kotarou ran towards the defending androkind. Poor soul. He must not realized his special app was already in action.

"Accessing Thunder Beast Mode." He spoke. The gears on his feet moved faster than ever as the entirety of his weight was shifted to the gear on his right hand. _"Thunder Beast Mode enabled. Select your weapon."_ Kotarou ran, circling the poor little newbie as fast as lightning itself. "Three-fingers chainsaw!" His index finger, middle finger, and ring finger all retracted to his palm, replaced by three miniature chainsaws.

The snow had fallen a lot that day so his opponent was wet from the melting snow. This androkind seemed to be high-powered because the snow melted the instant it touched his frame. Kotarou smirked. He's wet. It's perfect.

_"Charging for 99% impact."_

"Nah, fifty is enough. I don't wanna wreck him. _Thunder Beast Mode special program: Thunder dribble!" _Kotarou jabbed his three fingers to the opponent's wet frame, cutting down his shoulder and letting his energy battery flowed through his fingers in high-voltage electricity.

The androkind screamed, his software and AI beeping frantic alerts as his system melted down from the heat. His artif-epi melted, exposing his iron-made body into the crowd, who screamed in excitement.

"DOWN!"

The whole stadium cheered as his opponent fell to the ground, all systems failing with his shoulder nearly-melting. Kotarou looked up from his handiwork to the surrounding coliseum, who all chanted 'RA-I-JU! RA-I-JU!' loudly. Null-Four of Crownless Generals grinned.

"Thank you, my beloved Rakuzan!" His voice boomed across the stadium. He always liked this part of fighting in his own coliseum. He could hear applause all around as the announcer tried to take over again.

"The winner is Hayama Kotarou of the Crownless Generals series!"

The muffled sound of 'RA-I-JU!' was still heard when Kotarou waved and accepted his trophy.

After the exaggerated roars of how glorious he was and a brief history of his release, Kotarou was allowed to leave the field.

And he went straight to the VVIP room, where his sponsor was waiting for him. Akashi had sat on his usual seat by the fireplace. Rakuzan was the snow city of Teikou, after all.

"Your victory was brilliant, Kotarou-chan!"

"Reo-nee! You're here!" He turned to hug his older brother and beamed at the taller androkind. Reo usually chose to fight in Yousen Coliseum, after all. So it was a rarity to see him down in Rakuzan. "Of course I am here, Kotarou-chan! This is your fifth consecutive win in this coliseum! We need to celebrate!" They both turned to Akashi, who sighed.

"I need to go to Seirin today, maybe some other time." He dismissed easily, earning a sad pout from Kotarou and a disappointed sigh from Reo. The redhead rose from his chair and stared to Kotarou, who instantly bent lower than Akashi. "You did good, Kotarou." He petted his hair before leaving the room.

And despite Reo's burst of excitement, Kotarou was core was whirring a little bit faster than usual. Akashi usually expected perfection from all of his units, so praises were something of a rarity in Akashi corp...

Kotarou shut his eyes and burned the memory to his hard drive. Akashi- his _Master_- had just praised him.

* * *

The fifteenth time Akashi entered the unlocked-door of Kuroko household, he was greeted with sounds of gears in a form of chiming bells and melody. There was a quiet, kind whisper of 'come on, darling, you can do it' as the only coherent words in the world of chiming music boxes.

There was a few starting notes before and Akashi entered the messy laboratory, with the professor's back to his figure as he propped a beautiful doll on a chair and sat on the floor, waiting for it to do something.

Akashi leaned to the wall and stopped to listen as the doll started to move, its glass-eyes looking straight to him as it began to sing.

_Edelweiss, Edelweiss_

_Every morning you greet me_

_Small and white,_

_Clean and bright_

_You look happy to meet me_

_Blossom of snow may you bloom and grow_

_Bloom and grow forever_

_Edelweiss, Edelweiss_

_Bless my homeland forever._

"That was a brilliant performance, Utau-san. Thank you very much." The doll stayed silent as it sat unmoving from its previous position. Its head lolled to its side as the song finished and stayed there, her glass-eyes wide open and devoid of the earlier gleam while she sang.

"Quite extraordinary," Akashi clapped his hands politely, earning the tealheaded professor's attention. "It is a bit surprising that she doesn't say thank you to you, though. Does she not have a basic conversational program?" Professor Kuroko Tetsuya stared at him, minutes lost in silence as those green-glass goggles traveled elsewhere. He cradled the limp doll in his arms as men would have a baby and sighed.

"Utau-san is a clockwork doll. She does not have a program within her, only music processors." The professor explained as he went over to the tea-table and placed his goggle there. "Please sit down, Akashi-san. Hotaru-san will be with our tea in a few moments." Akashi thanked the man for his warm invitation and sat on the chair he had sat on his previous visits.

The teal-haired professor sat down on his chair, propping the little doll on his lap as he cleared some papers on the table and let them fall down, joining countless of other papers already cluttered there.

Akashi stared at the little doll, hardly believing that it was just a clockwork doll. It had hair, beautiful navy-colored ones, milky white artif-epi covering its body, and azure-colored marble eyes. It- _she _looked like just like an androkind.

"I can assure you that this child is not an androkind." The professor spoke, his eyes watching Akashi like a hawk. "You may think her as the perfect form of music box. She is a birthday present. Ah, thank you Hotaru-san." He accepted the tea from the maid-type androkind and sipped it elegantly. Akashi noticed the slight wobbling though. He probably went on a few days without eating again.

"Birthday present?" He raised the question. The professor always seemed to show a visible dislike whenever Akashi pointed out his concerns about the professor's eating-schedule, so he won't do it a second time. The professor fell silent before he lazily twirled a lock of the doll's hair. "Never mind me, it was silly. Why are you here again?"

A chuckle escaped Akashi's lips as he stared at the hardheaded professor before him. He would ask that question in each and every of his visit, after all. It was starting to get silly. Akashi stopped answering them on his twelfth visit.

"You know very well why I am here." He answered with a smile on his face. The professor's face remained emotionless as he let out a nearly inaudible scoff under his breath.

"As a matter of fact, I was thinking of asking you to go to dinner. Kotarou just won his fifth consecutive victory in Rakuzan Coliseum and I was thinking of celebrating it with us." This was not even a plan, although Reo _had _mentioned it to be a good idea. Just him, Kotarou, Reo, and the professor. It would be a step outside of his nanobot-clad household and a domain just outside the reach of his Shadow computer. Maybe someday Akashi will take him out on a proper restaurant with many people, but for now, he needed to make his prospective professor feel comfortable. Mayuzumi had warned him that his brother did not like crowd and Akashi really need to adjust to that.

The professor shook his head.

"I refuse." was his simple answer.

"It will be a pleasant night, Professor. Reo happens to be in Rakuzan and I was thinking of letting you see him. After all, you _were _interested with him?" There was a sparkle of curiosity passing on those blue irises of the prodigious professor, and Akashi knew that he had captured another one of the normally -stoic professor's interest.

"I am not comfortable with crowds."

"Taken care of. We will dine in a restaurant in one of my hotels in Rakuzan. It will be closed to public."

The professor looked pissed now, although it only showed in a slight, _slight _frown forming on his lips. Delicate and gone as soon as they came. He must be trying to find an excuse to not dine with him. Too bad Akashi was always one step ahead.

_'Professor, you have a phone call.' _The house suddenly resounded. Akashi smirked slightly when the look of utter relief passed the professor's face. And then he put on his goggles and... _smiled_.

He had smiled so _sweetly_, like nothing Akashi had ever seen before. His shoulders relaxed from its usual guarded posture and he leaned to the back of his seat. He tapped his goggles thrice and let out a very fond sigh.

"Ogiwara-kun,"

Oh. He should have seen that already.

"Yes, yes. I am home now. No, Kagami is not home. Last time I heard he was still in Kaijou. Oh, what kind of surprise-!"

"I'M HOOOOOME!"

An overly enthusiastic androkind literally leapt from the door to hug his professor, earning odd clanky noise of laughter from the surrounding clockwork dolls and even slight smiles from the maid-type androkinds lurking around the corner.

_'Welcome back, Ogiwara-niisama! Welcome back! Welcome back!'_

"Ogiwara-kun!" The professor's voice was a mix of happiness and surprise laced with a fair amount of irritation. But he did not brush the bigger androkind away. Zero-One Ogiwara Shigehiro laughed as he hugged his professor a little tighter and let him go with a big grin plastered across his face.

"And you're here too, Akashi-san! I see you really _did _try to befriend my father! How many times has he visited, Kage-chan?"

_'Akashi Seijuurou has visited Kuroko laboratory fourteen times.'_

"Actually, it's fifteen times. He entered the first time using your data, so Shadow did not count it..." There was a fond exasperation lacing the professor's pale face as he lightly touched Ogiwara's cheek. It was as if he was looking at a rambunctious child than a legendary androkind.

"Well, he's friend your now so it doesn't matter!" The androkind brushed it off with a smile on her face. "So, where's Momoi-chan? Is she here?" He asked as he looked around and eventually walk all over the place, greeting his 'brothers and sisters' as he went. "No," The professor sighed. "Momoi-san is busy with Sakurai-kun's release, remember? She isn't here."

"That means you haven't eaten yet! If Momoi-chan isn't here that means you haven't eaten yet!" Ogiwara turned his heels and speed his way to the tealhead's behind and hugged him, putting his chin on top of his head. "I gonna go and treat you some dinner, okay? I just won a tournament in Touou so-!"

The professor turned to him sharply, his eyes horridly unreadable behind those goggles. Ogiwara fell silent almost the second after. What was wrong with a tournament in Touou?

Awkward- _tense_ silence filled the room like a creeping hot air, suffocating each and every occupant of the room, all the dolls and androkinds included.

Akashi cleared his throat and broke the silence. "That will be taken care of, Shigehiro." The tealheaded professor was rather surprised to hear Akashi address one of his sons with their first name without any honorifics. "I was just asking Tetsuya if he wanted to go to dine with me so we can celebrate Kotarou's fifth consecutive wins since he was deemed qualified for high coliseum battles." Akashi's smile did not falter even as the tealheaded professor widen his eyes at the mention of his first name, without honorifics too. Akashi smirked as Ogiwara's face turned into a huge grin.

"Really?! That's amazing! I'll accompany you, Kuroko! We get to dine with Null-Four the Thunder Beast! This is so exciting! Wait I'll just change my clothes I gonna be back in a jiffy!" And the androkind was gone with a slight breeze from his high speed running.

The professor looked visibly annoyed as he took off his goggles and stared at Akashi like he had pissed him off immensely, but he said nothing.

Akashi smirked and let out a low chuckle. "Is something the matter? You are not going to disappoint your son, are you? He looked positively ecstatic about meeting Kotarou." The tealhead picked up the music-box doll he had dropped earlier and sat her up at the chair. "Of course I won't, Akashi-_kun_. Ogiwara-kun and I shall dine with you and your androkinds." Oh, he was Akashi-kun now. That must be a good sign.

"And I will not have it any other way, _Tetsuya._"

Everything is right on schedule.

* * *

_**Zero-Three Kagami Taiga: Finally Qualified to Enter the High Tournaments of Coliseums!**_

Zero-Two of the Legendary Light series read the headlines and smirked to himself.

"Time for another showdown... _Kagami!_"

* * *

_**Dummy's Guide to Teikou Country**_

_Yousen City_

Overview: A city situated on the mountain regions of Teikou, and is the highest major settlement above the sea level.

Highlights: Yousen Coliseum, Araki Kendojo, and Purple Pastry Kitchen

Corporations: Yousen corp.

High Coliseum's Defending Champions: Null-Four Mibuchi Reo of Crownless Generals series, Second of Aegis series Murasakibara Atsushi

Lower Coliseum's Defending Champions: Kagami Taiga

Trivia:

- A very popular city during holiday seasons.

-The citizens are very kind.

- It is a city of sunrise, so people will definitely retire during the night.

- No 24 hours service is open in this town, everything retires after 10 PM

* * *

_Another trivia here in the Author's Note: Edelweiss is Zero-Two's favorite song, and is the only music he saved to his hard drive because it was a song Kuroko had sung for him while he was being created._


	4. Chapter 4

**Project: Androkind**

_Miracles don't exist. They definitely don't- especially in Aomine's eyes. _

_-Monthly Androwonders-_

* * *

"Excuse me, miss? Are you Momoi Satsuki?"

The smile on that little boy clutching a doll of one of her children was dazzling, and Momoi Satsuki had to open her hood, crouching to get to that little boy's eye-level and smiled in return. "Yes I am! And you are...?" The boy gasped, his vibrant green eyes sparkling as if he had found a treasure and showed the most brilliant grin Satsuki had seen in her entire life. "I'm Rentarou! I'm a big fan of Wakamatsu Kousuke! He's amazing!"

She listened to his rambles with a faint smile on her face. Children... Children are so...

"What are you doing here, Satsuki-san?" And she looked up to see a man dressed in gray suit with equally gray irises. "And this child is?" Satsuki shook her head. "Rentarou-kun, I think it's time for you to go. Your parents must be worried about you!" Her voice faltered, unknown motherly instincts flooding her chest as she watched the boy hugged her leg and ran along towards his parents.

"You should not have done that." The gray-haired man spoke as he went over to her side, watching the little boy happily smiling to his equally happy parents. "I love children, Mayuzumi-san."

_I'm sorry, Momoi-san, but you can't..._

"Yes, you do." Mayuzumi Chihiro answered briefly, his voice calm and low as usual. "But I don't think you should have done that anyway." The pink-haired professor smiled and put on her hoods again. Even though Kaijou was not a big fan of her beloved Crowned Tyrants, she could still run into curious paparazzi lurking around the town.

Both professors walked in silence, partly because Chihiro-san was just like his brother in this aspect. They preferred silence over meaningless chatter and Satsuki really had nothing to say.

"I am surprised that Imayoshi lets you walk around without any sort of protection." Chihiro-san broke the silence after ten minutes of walking to the nearest hover-bus stop. "I know Kaijou is a safe place to be, but you are still somewhat of a phenomenon across Teikou."

"I can say the same to you, Chihiro-san." She smiled in return. "You are the famous creator of Crownless Generals series, no? You are much more of a phenomenon than I am." Chihiro-san shook his head. "I have a low presence, nobody notices someone as plain as I am. What with grey hair, gray eyes, and gray clothing, I could be mistaken as a pavement of a hover-board." A soft giggle escaped Satsuki's lips. These two are really brothers...

"I am glad that we are able to meet like this, Chihiro-san. I've missed you." Because the two of them were the one who stayed with Tetsu-kun until the end. The ones who accompanied him until he retreated into the shell that he was. Being a genius wasn't always a great experience, after all.

"I've missed you too, Satsuki-san. How is my brother?" And as usual, she could hear the hidden concern at the word 'brother'. Chihiro-san loved Tetsu-kun so much Satsuki thought it was both adorable and a shame that he never tried to be a permanence within his brother's life, fearing his rejection. And of course, Mayuzumi Chihiro will never speak of his feelings in a blunt outright manner whenever it concerned Kuroko Tetsuya, but Satsuki just _knew_.

The magenta-eyed professor smiled. "He's fine, Chihiro-san!" Of course he was, although it was as if everything had frozen in place for Tetsu-kun. Ever since Dai-chan, ever since Tai-chan... "Nothing has changed." And her voice faded into the buzz of Kaijou streets. Chihiro-san understood.

When the hover-bus came, Satsuki offered to pay for them both. But Chihiro-san quietly deposited two-tickets worth of money and sat on the back seat. Satsuki sighed and followed him suit, sitting just next to him in another bout of silence.

"Congratulations on Sakurai Ryou's release, by the way." Chihiro-san spoke, breaking the silence between them again. "He wasn't something I had expected from you. With Wakamatsu and Susa was anyway." Satsuki had to laugh. "Ryou-chan is the only child I made without Tetsu-kun's assistance, so I think I must have done something that made his persona-chip what it was."

"You mean he was the only creation you didn't made with Aomine's blueprint as its base."

Satsuki's laughter stopped dead on her tracks. Her magenta eyes went over to meet Chihiro-san's slate grey in sheer surprise. How did he-?

"You rushed their productions. How could I not notice?" Chihiro-san crossed his arms and leaned back to his seat, his slate grey eyes peering over the glowing city of Kaijou underneath them. "Zero-Zero-One and Zero-Zero-Two of Crowned Tyrants: Wakamatsu Kousuke and Susa Yoshinori were created only a few months after the Light Scramble between Zero-Two and Zero-Three of Lights. You speeded up their experience with inputting Ogiwara Shigehiro's battling data so they could graduate from Lower Coliseums earlier. They were created to defeat Aomine Daiki, am I wrong so far?"

No. He wasn't. Flashes of memories resurfaced within her mind like a fast-paced silent movie. Shige-chan crying, Tai-chan lying utterly broken with his artif-epi melting on the operating table, Tetsu-kun clutching his head, trembling as he tried to get his shivering hands under control so he could begin working on fixing Tai-chan immediately, and most of all, her own cries as she sketched hasty blueprints of remotely _anything _that can defeat Dai-chan so she won't have to lose Tetsu-kun...

"No, you're right." She forced a smile, her hands trembling hard on top of her lap. "You are absolutely right." Chihiro-san stared right at her trembling form and silently took her hand on his own pale, warm ones. "I shouldn't have said that. I apologize." The gray-haired man put his other hand on top of her head, petting her slightly.

"It's okay..." But her voice was already trembling hard. "It's okay, I'm all right. I'm okay."

The Light Series were her children. Ones she and Tetsu-kun could never have by biological means. Tetsu-kun didn't love her the way she did him, but he loved her so very much. It was complicated, but Satsuki loved him too much to ever let go of him. Besides, Tetsu-kun was probably the only man who would look her way after knowing that she was a defect.

_I'm sorry, Momoi-san, but you can't have children..._

But she had Shige-chan, Dai-chan, and Tai-chan with Tetsu-kun. Although the world never knew that the Light series were her joint project with Tetsu-kun, she had always loved her little family. She had raised those boys even more than she raised her own creations. Like Chihiro-san had said, she had always inputted early-battle data to her Crowned Tyrants so she wouldn't have to teach them with their locomotion or anything like Tetsu-kun had to for those Lights. Imayoshi-san didn't mind it anyways, he didn't see androkinds as anything else than money-making machine, after all...

She really did try to see them as her could-have-been children but...

But knowing that she won't ever produce _her own _children hurt. Because no matter how she tried to replace her defects with a new creation, androkinds will never be human. Momoi Satsuki will _never _have children...

Suddenly, there was a warm grey blanket thrown over her head by a gray-haired man who had left her side without her realizing. He had averted his eyes from her crying form as he took his seat next to her, just by the window.

"It's a long ride to Touou, Satsuki-san. You should go to sleep." And then there were silence.

But she laid her head onto his shoulder, covering herself with those warm blanket and the other professor did not push her away. And it was enough.

Little did Satsuki know that the slate-eyed professor's face was dusted with faint pinkish glow, thinking that his little whimsical visit to Kaijou had brought him something after all.

* * *

"Kurokooooo! This is so exciting oh gods oh gods so you're Hayama Kotarou, right? This is amazing! I'm-!"

"Ogiwara Shigehiro of Light series! Man I've heard lots about you! Are you gonna come in and eat with us? That's sweet!"

Akashi sighed in resignation the moment the two overly energetic androkinds greeted one another. Reo let out a good-natured laugh as he approached his younger brother and their guest, wanting to join in the conversation. Honestly, he should have thought that Kotarou and Ogiwara would get along swimmingly through their overenthusiastic nature and loudness. Sometimes he wondered what Mayuzumi had drank before he created Kotarou's persona-chip.

"I am sorry about their loudness, Te-"

The professor _giggled_.

It was a barely audible sound, but it was there. Even though it was lost in the vastness of the sky-dining restaurant, but Akashi had caught it just fine.

He couldn't see how his azure eyes looked as he was still wearing those horrid goggles, but the way his usually stiff face and shoulders relaxed was already a great indicator. This professor was really a mystery, and this came from someone who had spent the night listening to drunk Mayuzumi rambling about his light novels and girls wearing cat ears and shrine maiden outfit despite his overly stoic expression.

"Children," he spoke softly as he pulled down his goggles and let them settle around his neck. "How adorable." He spoke to himself, Akashi noticed, but he joined in with him anyways. "Yes," his eyes went over to Kotarou, Reo, and Ogiwara who conversed with much joy and enthusiasm he wasn't used to. "Yes, they are."

The professor stared at him, his eyes intent as his expression showed curiosity above any other. "Do you really think so, Akashi-kun?"

"Pardon me?"

"Do you really think that they are adorable? Not just a machine?"

Silence passed between the two male humans as they stared at one another. Akashi had never really thought of it before, after all. Reo, Eikichi, and Kotarou was always _there _after all. Mayuzumi would create them and then hand them over to him, after all. They were machines to bring him glorious victory over the androkind industry, nothing more, nothing less.

But hearing Kotarou and Reo's laughter, along with the fondness of the professor he had tried to befriend towards those machines made Akashi think that maybe... these androkinds weren't just machine and computers. Maybe they were something _more _than just a creation.

"Yes, I really do think so." And there was a warm smile offered to him. Not the usual sarcastic ones Akashi had grown used to. A real, genuine smile coming from the prodigy of androkind world.

"That is good to hear, Akashi-kun. Now, about our meal?"

And the dinner went on normally instead of awkwardly like Akashi had thought it would be. And it was _warm_, it was like having dinner with family he never had before.

* * *

"Kagami Taiga-kun, right? My name is Aida Riko. Can we have a talk?"

Zero-Three Kagami Taiga was rather surprised to be approached by this office-worker-like lady. After all, the only humans who wished to have a talk with him had been Kuroko and Momoi, his parents. Other humans were paparazzi who shot questions in lightning speed hoping that he would answer them. But this lady spoke to him like he was just any other human and it rather shocked him.

"Oh, sure." His brain tried its best to find anything useful in his basic conversational skill program. The lady smiled. "What do you want to talk about?" He asked as he walked together with her, slowing just to match her pace. "Simple, Kagami-kun. I would like to talk to you about your future. Will it be possible for us to take a custody of your sponsorship?"

Oh.

What?!

"I- well- I don't really know about that kind of stuff! Shouldn't you be asking Kuroko about this?"

"Well, yes. But Professor Kuroko Tetsuya has a peculiar way of handing out sponsorship documents. Companies are to ask direct agreement from the androkind themselves instead of the normal way of inspection and employment." She sighed. "Professor Kuroko is not employed by any sort of organization, so we thought that it will safe time if we go directly to you like how Imayoshi of Touou went directly to Aomine."

There was a silence between the two as Kagami's system quieted down. "Ao...mine...?" He spoke slowly, his core slowing down even more when he tried to google the overly familiar name.

_'Turn away, Kagami... turn away...'_

I-is that... Shigehiro?

_'There's no need for you to know. There's no need for you to remember...'_

Huh? Wha...?

"Kagami-kun? Are you okay?"

Kagami shook his head, his eyes peering over at the human lady and smiled. "Who's Aomine again?"

_'Please, don't ever fight him again. Kuroko... Kuroko and I will never be able to take it if we lose you.'_

* * *

**Dummy's Guide to Teikou Country**

_Kaijou City_

Overview: A city situated just next to a beach. The lowest settlement above sea level.

Highlights: Kaijou Coliseum, Maplewood Theaters, and Sunspark Mall

Corporations: Blue Elites corp.

High Coliseum's Defending Champions: Serial Number Three Kise Ryouta of Blue Elites series, Zero-Two of Light Series Aomine Daiki

Lower Coliseum's Defending Champions: Serial Number Four Hayakawa Mitsuhiro of Blue Elites series

Trivia:

- A city that never sleeps.

-The citizens are usually obnoxious party goers who will invite strangers into warm hugs

- It's a city that rests late and wake up early, everyone seems to have energy for everything

- This city is a special city in which androkind modeling and acting are also an award-winning industry.

- Maplewood theaters feature movies starred by androkinds as well.


End file.
